I keep seeing other FG post on social media how the locals are masking up and playing the part but not washing hands, using hand sanitizer, etc. Jives with my experience as well....I mean, even larger stations like Shibuya don't have hand soap. Gonna be a loooong outbreak unless soap dispensers get installed and the toddler level "let's wash hanzu" campaigns go into effect. I don't even know what to say about the hand dryers....everything I've ever seen on them shows they blast the nasties to every surface of the restrooms.

matsuki wrote: I don't even know what to say about the hand dryers....everything I've ever seen on them shows they blast the nasties to every surface of the restrooms.

The ones which blast the air (and the droplets collected inside the dryer) upwards? I've avoided those for years anyway.

I avoid them as well but you don't have to use them to be affected....

Grumpy Gramps wrote:Yes, upwards, into your face, is the most effective disease control. Doctors and pharmacies are making a killing from this. Thank you for using them!

OTOH, if you'd really wash your hands thoroughly, there shouldn't be anything left on them at the dryers, that make you sick?

From what I understand, the surfaces/filters of these become cesspools of germs/bacteria/virii and then this stuff gets blasted throughout the restroom anytime one is used. On to the users hands, on all the surfaces of the restroom, yum yum!

There is hope though...

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Japan Olympic Minister: Games could be held any time in 2020APnews.com | 2020-Mar-04TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Olympic minister said Tuesday the contract to hold the Tokyo Games only specifies the event has to be held during 2020.Seiko Hashimoto’s response to a question in the upper house of parliament implies the Olympics could be held later in the year and would not have to start on July 24 as planned. The Paralympics open on Aug. 25 ......“The IOC has the right to cancel the games only if they are not held during 2020,” Hashimoto told parliament. “This can be interpreted to mean the games can be postponed as long as they are held during the calendar year.”However, the suggestion of a possible change of plan was quickly batted back at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board in Switzerland.“We are going to have the games on the 24th of July,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a briefing.IOC President Thomas Bach and Tokyo organizers have repeatedly said they expect the Olympics to open on schedule. Others have suggested the spreading virus could force cancellation, postponement or moving events to other cities.The IOC issued a statement earlier Tuesday expressing “full commitment to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, taking place from July 24 to Aug. 9, 2020.”

matsuki wrote:Some weird, meaningless "Japanese interpretation" going on here and for what? IOC's call, they already said it goes forward or is cancelled.

Tokyo 2020 "Fan-free in Japan!®"

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As Coronavirus Spreads, Olympics Face Ticking Clock and a Tough CallDuring a conference call with the World Health Organization last week, sports federations discussed holding the Tokyo Games without fans.nytimes.com/ | March 5, 2020It is the option that nobody in the Olympic movement wants to talk about, but it is the one staring everyone in the face: a Tokyo Games this summer with no fans, just 10,000 athletes competing in front of seas of empty seats.As the coronavirus continues to spread......worst-case scenarios for the Olympic Games, and the risks and benefits of a fan-free Olympics, according to several people familiar with the nearly two-hour call, all of whom requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about a conversation the W.H.O. deemed private. Holding fan-free competitions, with only sports officials and broadcasters as spectators, was one of a number of options suggested for managing large sporting events in the weeks and months before the Games.According to the people, an expert from the W.H.O. on the call said that the most important thing would be to create a screening process for participants, athletes, fans and others, and to create a risk profile of countries and regions. Participants on the call also discussed the different risk profiles of indoor and outdoor events, as well as those for contact and non-contact sports.More...

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Yes, why not? And why put the tv and press crews at risk? No need for that, either. It would surely be enough, if the IOC published the result of every event once the games are all over. A few strategically placed "leaks" on social media, where no-one really knows, whether they're real or fake, would make these games the most exciting ever!

Why not move the Olympic games to Seoul? The Koreans have done their best to get out as fast as possible to effect as much containment as possible, and will likely reap the rewards of a flattened epidemic. And they have hosted the Summer Games before, and have the necessary infrastructure. Their bonus should be hosting the 2020 Games in place of Japan, who at that point will be just starting to test those with COVID-19 symptoms. Hell, spectators could use their original flights to Tokyo, and grab immediate connector flights to Seoul. Everybody (with two neurons to rub together) wins.

Update:According to the Shingetsu News Agency 2020-Mar-24:Decision made to postpone the Olympics until next year, but Governor Yuriko Koike says that it will still be called the Tokyo 2020 Olympics despite taking place in 2021.

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Mike Oxlong wrote:Why not move the Olympic games to Seoul? The Koreans have done their best to get out as fast as possible to effect as much containment as possible, and will likely reap the rewards of a flattened epidemic. And they have hosted the Summer Games before, and have the necessary infrastructure. Their bonus should be hosting the 2020 Games in place of Japan, who at that point will be just starting to test those with COVID-19 symptoms. Hell, spectators could use their original flights to Tokyo, and grab immediate connector flights to Seoul. Everybody (with two neurons to rub together) wins.

Ha - I'm surprised that South Korea hasn't suggested that yet. After all they did move in on the soccer World Cup back in 2002 - I think it was that year - and stole some games off the Japanese as co-hosts despite not being originally in the equation. I would probably enjoy seeing this future Olympics steal cause I have to respect South Korea for dealing with the new virus in a transparent way and focusing on special care zones etc to get it under control.

I.O.C. and Japan Agree to Postpone Tokyo OlympicsThe decision came after swelling resistance from nations and athletes to holding the Games amid the coronavirus pandemic.The New York Times | March 24, 2020TOKYO — After months of internal discussions and mounting pressure from nations and athletes across the world, the International Olympic Committee will postpone the Summer Games that had been scheduled to begin in late July in Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said Tuesday.Instead, the Games, the world’s largest sporting event, will take place in the summer of 2021, a change that will wreak havoc with sports schedules but should bring great relief to the athletes, organizers and health officials who had increasingly pressed that the coronavirus pandemic made it unsafe to go forward with the event.The decision became inevitable after the national Olympic committee in Canada announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from the Games, and Australia’s committee told its athletes that it was not possible to train for this summer under the widespread restrictions in place to control the virus. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, after initially declining to take a stand, joined the fray Monday night, urging the I.O.C. to postpone.More...

I'm sure you're heartbroken, Taro...........I have a good idea, a great compromise. Move the Olympics from Tokyo to Chiba, preferably Ichikawa, with venues in Saitama especially in the area where those idiots flocked recently to a huge event. After all, Japan has the new virus under control and it's other countries that have to worry.

Tokyo Olympics may not happen even in 2021nbcnews.com | 2020-04-10The chief executive of the Tokyo Olympics says he can’t guarantee the postponed games will be staged next year — even with a 16-month delay......I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not,” Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said, speaking through an interpreter at a news conference conducted remotely. ”We’re certainly are not in a position to give you a clear answer.”More...

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Taro Toporific wrote:Tokyo Olympics may not happen even in 2021nbcnews.com | 2020-04-10The chief executive of the Tokyo Olympics says he can’t guarantee the postponed games will be staged next year — even with a 16-month delay......I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not,” Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said, speaking through an interpreter at a news conference conducted remotely. ”We’re certainly are not in a position to give you a clear answer.”More...

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Well, maybe they can aim for Tokyo 2222...

― Voltaire“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein

Taro Toporific wrote:Tokyo Olympics may not happen even in 2021nbcnews.com | 2020-04-10The chief executive of the Tokyo Olympics says he can’t guarantee the postponed games will be staged next year — even with a 16-month delay......I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not,” Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said, speaking through an interpreter at a news conference conducted remotely. ”We’re certainly are not in a position to give you a clear answer.”More...

Teh Grauniad wrote:A Japanese specialist in infectious diseases has said he is “very pessimistic” about the likelihood of the Tokyo Olympics going ahead next year.

Speaking to journalists in an online briefing on Monday, Kentaro Iwata, a professor at Kobe University Hospital, said: “I don’t think the Olympics are likely to be held next year. People will be coming from hundreds of nations ... and although Japan might have the disease under control by next summer, I don’t think that will be the case everywhere.”

Iwata, who was critical of the Japanese government’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak aboard the Diamond Princess cruise liner in February, added: “In that sense I am very pessimistic about holding the Games next summer, unless they are held in a different way, such as with no spectators or in limited numbers.”